


The Taste of Her Lips is Sugar Plum Sweet

by alexygalaxy



Series: Principal Role [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Ballet, F/F, First Kiss, seriously theres a lot of intricate rituals, the intricate ritual of a pas de deux, this fic is rated teen bc of Beau's potty mouth :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21938182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexygalaxy/pseuds/alexygalaxy
Summary: "Beau stepped towards her, sliding her palms over Jester’s waist to control the rotation and keep her on balance. Beau was pretty good at it, if she had to judge for herself. Her hands fit well on Jester’s hips."orBeau and Jester are both performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the NCB's production of The Nutcracker this year, and when left alone after a rehearsal, they try to dance the full duet together, and it can only go homoerotically.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Series: Principal Role [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1416520
Comments: 8
Kudos: 99





	The Taste of Her Lips is Sugar Plum Sweet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Royalwriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royalwriter/gifts).



> Happy end of Nutcracker season everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you enjoy this little oneshot! Full glossary and also links to vids with the choreography are in the endnotes. 
> 
> Lex this one's partially for you, 'cause I know how much of a slut you are for BeauJes, and partially for me, because you know how much a slut I am for ballet.
> 
> Also, quick shoutout to [minky-for-short](https://minky-for-short.tumblr.com) on tumblr, who also has a ballet au and drew this [ beaujes as the sugar plum and cavalier ](https://minky-for-short.tumblr.com/post/187186850597/for-the-balletau-beau-amp-jester-in-like) and I did think about it QUITE a bit while writing this.
> 
> Sorry but not too sorry for how hopelessly indulgent in the dancing this gets, this is one of my favorite pas of all time. Hope you all enjoy!!!

When Beau danced, she moved with precision. There was a clarity to every step that could only stem from years upon years of practice, paired with a keen, attentive mind that always knew where the body was in space. Each sus-sous, every passé and arabesque, was placed with an unwavering determination, along with the sly grin of a dancer who did every single thing on purpose. It was a quality that made her mesmerizing to watch, and it was why she was, in Jester’s totally biased opinion, the best dancer in the Nicodranas City Ballet. 

It absolutely did not carry over to the way she acted when the night’s run of the Sugar Plum pas was finished. She crumpled over herself at the side of the stage, heaving too hard to down her water, and stuck her tongue out in an unsatisfied grimace. 

“Fuck, man,” Beau wheezed, “that was _not_ a good run.”

“No, it was not. But we have time,” Caleb said, huffing between every few words himself.

“Mmm,” she hummed noncommittally.

“I thought it looked fine,” Jester called from her spot on the floor, back pressed up against the mirror, leaving smudge marks that Dairon would surely complain about tomorrow. 

“Are you fuckin’ serious, Jes? It was a mess.”

“You’re only saying that ‘cause you’re always hard on yourself, Beau. You didn’t mess up any more than me and Fjord did.” She waved her hand reassuringly in Beau’s direction. “We’ve got four weeks till we open. We’ll be fine.”

“I guess.”

“Plus it always goes better once you have on the tutu.”

Beau’s eyebrows rose indignantly. “Speak for yourself, Jes. You know I hate that ruffle butt shit.”

“Speakin’ of,” Fjord cut in, gesturing between himself and Caleb, “the two of us have a costume fitting right about now.”

“Ja, ja, coming.”

Caleb quickly gathered his items into his arms, then slid them one by one into his duffel bag. He hoisted it onto his shoulder and made for the door, holding it for Fjord as the other dancer followed him out. Their voices quickly faded down the hall as the door clicked shut behind them.

Jester sighed, letting it echo in the now silent room. “Well,” she said, already sounding bored, “now we just wait for half an hour until Keg is done with them.”

“Yeah, best not to crowd costume closet. Room’s tiny as fuck,” Beau added.

“Yah,” Jester agreed.

“Don’t think anyone’s in here after us,” Beau said. “Might as well mark through it again.”

“Might as well,” Jester repeated. “I can go, since you just ran. Although. Not sure if it’ll be worth it without Fjord anyways.”

“I’ll just be your Fjord,” Beau half-joked.

Jester simply cackled in response.

“Hey, I could _totally_ do it as good as Fjord,” Beau answered, feigning offense.

“You totally _could_ do it as good as Fjord,” Jester replied earnestly.

“I could totally do it as GOOD as Fjord,” Beau said with confidence.

“YOU could totally do it as good as Fjord!” Jester cried, believing her.

“I should totally do it as your Fjord,” Beau said, smile cracking across her face.

“You should totally do it as my Fjord,” Jester responded, shaking her hands emphatically.

“I’m doing it as your Fjord!” Beau yelled, pushing off her knees to a fully standing position, and skittering across the room to take her place stage left.

“You’re doing it as my Fjord!” Jester squealed enthusiastically, stepping backwards to mirror Beau’s starting position.

The two of them faced each other in a simple b-plus, one leg tucked daintily behind the other, and arms extended low to the sides. They locked eyes, already grinning wildly, each waiting for the other to begin. Jester shook her head dramatically, as if to mimic the conductor’s cue to the orchestra. 

“Blum, blum, blum, blum,” she sang, echoing the preparatory strums of the harp as she and Beau took a breath together before walking around themselves in small circles. Beau bowed to Jester, sinking far deeper than necessary and forcing her to fight off a giggle. 

“Blum, blum, blum, blum.” Beau joined in for the last four pre-notes as they both pulled to a fifth position, and Beau extended her hand to Jester for balance. 

“Deeeeeee!” Jester trilled, placing her hand in Beau’s as she dragged one toe up her shin to a passé, then extended it high in front of her nose.

“Dah dah dah dee,” Beau added, raising her and Jester’s held hands in the air and beginning to spin Jester about.

“Wrong way!” Jester squeaked, resisting Beau’s push.

“Shit, fuck, sorry!” Beau immediately, if gracelessly, reversed direction.

“Iiiit’s ooookaaaaay,” Jester reassured her, words managing to match with the melody as she span the right way, bringing her leg from the front to a high attitude back.

In the silence between notes, Beau slipped her hand out of Jester’s, just to turn it over with a flourish and invite the other dancer to take it again. They glanced at each other as Jester grabbed it, lips pressing together in a lazy attempt to suppress laughs. Beau began to promenade Jester around, guiding their connected hands ahead of her as she circled her Sugar Plum Fairy, humming all the while. 

As she reached the end of the promenade, Beau pushed at Jester’s hand, attempting to fling her around for several pirouettes. The timing wasn’t quite right, and she let go of Jester before Jester was ready to spin. She stumbled off pointe, letting out a surprised noise that made Beau snort. As she regained her bearings, she turned to face Beau, waiting for the next movement and scowling at the dancer who made her fall.

“Hey, cmon,” Beau whined with fake distress, planting her hands firmly around Jester’s hips to signal a continuation of the piece. “I got you.”

Jester took a quick balance before arching back over Beau’s hands, and wheezing out, “Fine.” It wasn’t so easy to talk when you were bent over backwards, and even less so when bent over backwards balancing on the tip of one toe, even if you did have help. As she pulled back to vertical, she continued in a more normal voice, “You’re forgiven.”

Beau let the tiniest smug smile cross her face as she stepped away, letting her hands linger on Jester’s hips. She hoped it would seem like she was unsure if the other dancer had her balance. Jester did, of course, and Beau knew that. It’s not like closing a passé to sus-sous was hard. But Beau still let the touch last an extra half a second, before she struck her next pose, hand up and open for Jester to take in a repeat of their first phrase.

“DEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Dah dah dee deeeeeee!” Jester practically yelled as she took Beau’s hand yet again. 

Beau doubled over laughing, but couldn’t move her arm out of the way because Jester was already hanging onto it, and barely missed smashing her nose into her elbow. She quickly straightened back up, wiping a tear from her eye with her free hand, and spun Jester around the right direction this time. Then came another hand grab, and a promenade, and a far more successful turn. 

After the second back bend, Jester began to bourrée out of Beau’s grasp, a thousand little steps pulling her across the stage an inch at a time. Beau watched her go, taking a moment to genuinely admire the way Jester danced. 

She always had a kind of welcoming presence about her; moving her limbs with a softness and tilting her focus at just the right angle to draw the audience towards her without seeming like an attention hog. It made people watching her feel like they were also dancing her part, even if they were just sitting still. Or even if, in Beau’s case, they were supposed to be performing opposite her.

“Oh fuckin’ - I do _not_ know where he goes during this part,” Beau muttered, telling the truth to cover for the fact that she’d just been staring. 

Jester glanced over her shoulder at Beau, not breaking the rhythm of her arms or feet. “Just do whatever, no one else is even in here.”

Beau shrugged in agreement, before skittering in a rather ungraceful fashion to the next position she knew to take. Jester followed Beau’s path, gliding over the stage until the bourrées suddenly stopped, replaced with a series of turns. Beau stepped towards her, sliding her palms over Jester’s waist to control the rotation and keep her on balance. Beau was pretty good at it, if she had to judge for herself. Her hands fit well on Jester’s hips.

Jester shot her leg out to the back as her turns slowed to a stop, barely clipping the side of Beau’s thigh. 

“Sorry!” she whispered, turning awkwardly over her shoulder to make sure Beau was ok. 

“‘S fine,” Beau hummed. 

Beau shifted her grip on Jester’s hips as she returned back to her actual balance position, satisfied that Beau was fine and ready to continue the run. Beau pulled her around in a circle, unable to fight the smile that crossed her lips as she felt Jester give her more of her weight, pushing into her hands as she arched back, eyes closed and face split in a grin. She was near angelic to look at. 

Jester opened her eyes, still leaning back, catching Beau’s gaze above her for a split second before she dove forward, raising her leg as high as it would go, balancing only by way of Beau’s grip steadying her torso. As soon as she was down, Beau was tugging her back up. She let herself rise, straining to keep her leg high as she pulled her back up and returned to an arabesque. Beau let go of her hips and she stayed, frozen on one leg for half a second, before stepping out of the balance. 

She smiled over her shoulder at Beau - who was already grinning back - as the two of them walked in more circles to pad out the music as they set up for the next section of lifts. Beau moved directly to center stage, while Jester took her time cutting downstage and off to the side. She smiled at no audience before swiveling around to face her partner. As she turned, she flipped her arms into a new position, tossed her head back with over dramatic vigor, let out a loud, breathy ‘Hah!’ and clacked the hard tip of her shoe against the floor before taking her first step. 

Beau failed to hold back a squeak of laughter and Jester immediately dropped her posture to double over, snickering and losing any semblance of the music she had been singing. She dissolved into a giggling mess, shaking too hard to look up at Beau. She could hear wheezing laughs from across the room, though, which made it quite a bit harder to pull herself together and continue dancing. 

Jester did manage it after a few seconds, though. She shot herself back up to her preparatory position, re-placing her arms and feet to be poised and turned out, and began to run towards Beau, whose arms were already held out for Jester.

“Dee-ee-e,” Beau sang, picking up the melody where Jester had left off, voice still shaking with suppressed laughter. 

Jester planted her body directly in front of Beau’s, shooting her arms above her head and letting Beau steady her hips as she extended one leg to the side. Though Jester was usually a couple inches shorter than Beau, the act of being en pointe raised her height just enough that her face was perfectly aligned with Beau’s in this balance. Perfectly aligned, and just inches away. 

Just a few inches. 

Really close.

Really, really close.

Jester stuck her tongue out at Beau, and Beau immediately stuck out her own. To keep from laughing too hard again, Jester lifted her gaze slightly and began the arc of her body up and away from Beau as she pivoted her leg from the side to the back into another penchée.

She let the leg lower as her chest began to rise, letting Beau turn her to face the other side. She felt Beau slide her arm fully around Jester’s lower back, providing her a shelf to arch backwards over. Jester did so, but chose to keep her head facing Beau, so she could stick out her tongue again and try to get Beau to laugh. It worked.

“God DAMN it, Jes,” Beau whispered in the silence between the notes she was singing.

Jester smirked, then stepped out of Beau’s grasp, walking daintily away from her. As she left, Beau gestured an arm to call her back. Almost immediately, she ran towards Beau again, rising into another balance with her leg out to the side, Beau’s hands on her hips, and Beau’s face right in front of her face.

She didn’t stick her tongue out this time. She just smiled, which made Beau smile. Then she scrunched up her nose a little bit, and stuck her head forwards just enough that it bumped into Beau’s nose. 

When she pulled back, her face was a little red, and so was Beau’s. But they’d also just finished a rehearsal and were currently dancing, so who was to say how much was blush and how much was simply a sign of exertion. 

Beau hummed as she held Jester; quietly, because Jes was so close it didn’t take much for her to hear it. Despite having her singing the music, Jester was still a little late when she pulled her gaze away from Beau’s for the second penchée, and quick to come up and find it again as she let herself fall into Beau’s arm for the cambré back. 

The choreography called for Jester to pull away from Beau then, which she did. But she made her bourrées slightly smaller than usual, and Beau stretched her arm so that her fingers stayed on Jester for as long as possible. She gave Jester the smallest push as she finally lost contact, and that extra touch did cause Jester to grin. As she soutenued around herself, she caught a glimpse of a matching grin on Beau, who had set herself up a few feet away with hand open for Jester to grab, yet again.

Jester picked up the melody as she slipped one foot up over her ankle, developpéing it to the front. She straightened the leg slowly, as though she was moving through some thick liquid, tension pressing against her every movement. Then the rest of her body caught up with the movement, as if she had broken through a wave, and she pulled her weight forwards onto that leg. She took another step like that, this time grabbing hold of Beau’s hand as she shifted her weight. She took a moment to re-center herself before pushing off Beau’s arm and drawing her back leg in towards her knee to pirouette. 

Beau tried to aid her, by bracing her arm to give Jester more resistance for the turn. Instead, she found she had no easy path to get it to the other side of Jester where it needed to be a mere half-second later to catch Jester as she finished the turn. Jester managed to catch herself by cheating the turn down to a plié, using the bend of her leg to staunch the momentum instead of Beau’s hands. 

“Fuck, shit,” Beau hissed, letting her arm drop gracelessly so Jester could glide past her and set up for their second time through the phrase.

“Whatever,” Jester responded gleefully, not at all bothered. 

She flashed Beau an encouraging smile as she began to step-draw her way towards Beau’s hand again. This time, Beau let her arm fold in as Jester pushed it, drawing it towards her torso to circle behind the spinning dancer. She still missed Jester’s hips, however, misjudging the distance she had to reach to grab her. Beau’s hands connected after Jester had already fudged the landing a second time.

The third time through, Beau figured it out. Let her arm fold in, then take a half step while Jester turned so she could brace Jester’s hips as she finished. 

“FUCK YEAH!” Beau yelled, realizing she was holding Jester, no longer turning and still en pointe. 

“Whoo!” Jester cheered, stepping away to prepare for their fourth and final pass. “Doubles this time, Beau, you got it!”

Sure enough, Beau managed to get her hands on Jester at the right time and with controlled enough pressure that Jester could spin twice, instead of once, before shooting her leg out to stop. 

“Doubles!” Beau shouted excitedly.

“We’re so fucking _good_!” Jester responded, circling her arms for extra flair, and to signal Beau to let go over her hips to let her balance alone.

Beau let out a whoop, impressed both by her rapidly improving partnering skills and Jester’s long-lasting balance. 

As Jester began stepping downstage, Beau trailed behind her, picking up the melody where Jester had left off. Jester let her arms trail behind her so Beau could grab them. Beau gently wrapped her fingers around Jester’s wrists, guiding her arms over her head as she dove into another penchée arabesque. Then she lead Jester back up, tugging lightly to turn her about and bring her across the stage. 

Jester’s hands were warm in Beau’s grasp, her voice gentle on the air, and her face split in a wide grin. Normally, Beau was a notoriously stone-faced dancer, but right now, Beau made no attempt to fight that smile tugging at her already happy expression. 

She skittered backwards, knowing her feet were moving faster than Jester was singing, but it didn’t matter. Jester slipped off pointe, quitting the bourées, instead just dashing towards Beau.

Neither of them could tell whose laughter was whose anymore. It made them both laugh harder.

They reached the other side of the stage and Jester dove into another balance, dipping wildly and trusting Beau to keep her from collapsing. Beau lifted her back up and pulled at her arms again, slightly harder this time. 

She ran backwards with her legs turned in and her back bent over, and Jester’s shoes were clunking loud against the floor as she nearly tripped trying to keep up. It was an atrocity of technique and yet it was beautiful, because no one was watching them except themselves, and they were having too much fun dancing with each other to bother thinking about how dance was supposed to look. 

Jester leaned down for her last arabesque, whooping when Beau pulled her back up with a gleeful ferocity, leading her right into a sauté. Beau was a jumper, and Jester could feel Beau launch high off the floor behind her, too excited to hold herself back. 

By this point, their singing was so riddled with laughs that it was barely recognizable, but they had danced the piece enough times to keep an internal metronome. The two of them trailed back to the corner, taking a breath together before continuing.

Step, step, prepare, then Jester jumped, and choked out a “hup!” as Beau lifted her higher than she expected on her pas de chat. She had no time to think about it as she landed, immediately preparing for a set of turns. Beau took over singing as Jester whipped her head around one, two, three! times before Beau’s hands brought her turns to a swift halt and she shot her arms to the side in a dramatic pose. Step, step, again, and she was soaring with Beau’s strength behind her jump, and Beau’s voice humming in her ear. 

There was a kind of joy in dancing like this; no restraint and unlimited trust in the person sharing the space with you. Jester and Beau were absolutely _bathing_ in it.

She could stay like this forever, Jester thought, as Beau’s arm slid about her waist and her body pressed against her back to slow her final set of pirouettes, energy in the room briefly settling as the choreography slowed to give the dancers a breath.

“Beau,” Jester murmured.

“Jes?” Beau asked.

“The shoulder sits.”

“Oh.”

“You’re strong, but…”

“I’ll still lift you. Jump into my arms, princess style.” The grin on Beau’s face was apparent in her voice. “I got you.”

Jester responded by stepping out of Beau’s grasp, picking up the song where their conversation had cut it off, running a few steps in preparation, and leaping into Beau’s arms. 

Beau caught her easily, one arm hooking under Jester’s knees and the other about Jester’s shoulders. She bounced slightly with the weight, but quickly rose, parading Jester about the stage in a poor approximation of the actual floor pattern. Jester hooked her arms behind Beau’s neck to help support her weight. Pressed even closer against Beau’s chest, she could feel the faint vibration of Beau humming their music. 

Jester felt her grin get wider than her widest smile for like, the fifth time tonight. Beau smiled back at her, not having taken her eyes off Jester’s face since she started moving in for the lift. 

_Damn_ the choreography for making Beau put her down. 

Jester stretched out her legs begrudgingly, taking her own weight back from Beau as she was lowered onto one dainty toe. She quickly stepped out of it, pulling back just far enough to give herself the momentum she needed to leap back into Beau’s arms. 

She hummed with Beau this time, letting the two melodies mix in the small space between them. Beau giggled at her knowingly before whisking them both around in a circle. Jester tossed her head back and kicked her feet, letting out a joyous squeal. 

Beau’s heart swelled. 

She put Jester back down on her own leg again, but at least this time she did not have to fully let go. She laced her hand with Jester’s as it slid off her neck, holding it while Jester balanced, and using it to guide Jester as she turned on her toe to face the same way as Beau. 

She felt Jester’s fingers wiggling in her own and was lurched back to reality, realizing Jester was trying to get hold of just one finger so that she wouldn’t snap Beau’s knuckles in the next set of turns. Beau quickly shifted her grip, and held out her other hand as a platform for Jester to propel herself from as she fouettéd. 

Jester missed Beau’s hand every single time, causing the two of them to explode with laughter. Jester slipped off pointe about three turns in, spinning wildly instead on a flat foot, refusing to care at all. 

Beau sent her off with a playful shove, opening her arms yet again for Jester to jump into. This one was an actual balletic lift, one that Beau knew she could do. As Jester sprung up, legs squeezing together in an assemblé, she used one hand to push against Beau’s open arm to hold herself higher, aided further by Beau’s other hand pressing her hips up. 

Jester knew Beau was strong. Hell, she lived with the woman, and was _very_ aware of just how ungodly early she woke up to crosstrain at the gym on weekends. But the extra few seconds of air time that Beau’s steady arm gave her were still not something she was expecting, and it threw her for a loop in the best possible way.

And that was _nothing_ compared to the way Jester felt as Beau hooked one hand around her upper thigh, and the other across Jester’s lower back, and scooped her up in a dip. 

The second time through the phrase, Jester made a show of extending her leg to the front, letting it eke ever so slowly straight as she held Beau at arms length. She even sang a little slower, just to be a tease. The second she could, Beau lunged forward to sweep Jester into her arms, swinging her back and forth in time with the lilting melody. 

As the song swelled, she tossed Jester just enough to swap her arm and bring her once again into a princess carry. Beau swayed Jester back and forth gently as she hummed, warping the notes to get another giggle out of Jester that she could feel resonate into her own chest. 

Jester took her own weight back as reluctantly as Beau let her down, but she did eventually take it, unable to defy the choreography that had been rehearsed into her bones. 

Jester stepped away from Beau, just to circle around and step back in to take her hand. Beau craned her neck to stay looking at Jester as she bouréed around Beau, never letting go of her hand. As Jester came back around to Beau’s front, Beau took hold of her other hand and held them both aloft as Jester raised one bent leg out in front. 

Jester and Beau let out a synchronized “dah!” as Beau released Jester’s hands and she held yet another poised balance. Once Jester fell out of it, she let Beau pick up singing the melody again. She pranced forward, feeling Beau follow behind her. She jumped to a sus-sous, tossing her arms up for Beau to catch. As she felt Beau’s hands find hers, she drew in a sharp breath.

“Beau!” She exclaimed, extending her leg low to the side.

“What’s up, Jes?” Beau asked, beginning to lead Jester around in a promenade.

“Fish lift?” she questioned, beating one toe against her ankle in a fast serré, knowing Beau could fill in the blanks about her concern regarding the final pose of the pas.

“Hell yeah! I can do it, Jes. I got you,” Beau answered, guiding Jester down and up in another penchée with a now-practiced smoothness. 

“Okay,” Jester said, and loosed her hands from Beau’s for a final balance, turning her head dramatically towards where an audience ought to be.

She stepped away from Beau, lunging outwards and freezing for another dramatic pause, singing a “Dah!” that echoed in the mostly empty studio. 

She turned back towards Beau and stepped into her, spinning and shooting out into a low arabesque, propped up on Beau’s arm, as Beau sang the “Dah!” this time around.

She glanced at Beau for a split second before lowering her leg, and jumping straight up in the air, letting Beau wrap one arm around her squeezed-together legs and another around her hips. Beau bent one leg in a lunge as she swung Jester’s whole body down, using the leg to help support Jester’s torso as well. Jester wrapped one of her legs around Beau’s back, seeming to lock herself in place. 

“DAH!” Jester belted, flourishing her arms outwards, and feeling Beau release one arm as well. 

She wasn’t worried. Beau totally had her.

For the first half a second, everything was still, save for their heaving breath, having just laughed through six straight minutes of exhausting movement. 

In the second half of the second, Jester felt herself begin sliding towards the floor, Beau’s leg slightly too low on her torso to fully support her weight. She managed to catch herself on her arms, but tumbled off of Beau gracelessly, legs clunking to the ground, followed shortly by Beau, who had been yanked forwards by the sudden shift of weight. 

Jester flipped onto her back just as Beau’s hands slammed down on either side of her shoulder; Beau’s knee managing to just miss Jester’s stomach and instead falling so that Beau more or less had her straddled. 

“Shit, Jes, are you - fuck, I’m so sorry - are you okay?”

Jester looked up at Beau. Her mouth, scrunched up in worry, lips parted expectantly as she waited to hear Jester’s voice. Her cheeks, red from overheating and exercise and laughter, covered in freckles that only stood out when she was really blushing. Her eyes, glancing up and down Jester’s body, checking for injuries, among other things, but still shining with mischief.

Jester giggled. 

Beau’s lips turned up in a half grin, relieved that Jester was at least okay enough to still be laughing. 

Jester stared at them.

Beau let out a heavy breath, shifting to sit more on her heels, taking weight off her hands and pulling ever so slightly away from Jester.

“Wait a minute.” 

Jester’s hand immediately shot up towards Beau. Her fingers brushed the side of Beau’s face as she picked at stray lock of hair that had been plastered there with sweat. She humphed in disapproval.

“I’m always telling you to use more bobby pins,” she murmured, tucking the strand behind Beau’s ear. 

Jester drew her hand back practically in slow motion, letting each finger find its own path down the curve of Beau’s face. Her thumb dragged along her cheekbone, her pinky along her jaw. Jester stopped with the pad of her thumb just brushing Beau’s lips, still slightly open, and her pointer finger curled under Beau’s chin.

“Sorry,” Beau whispered, wondering if Jester was waiting to get some kind of response to her earlier chiding.

Jester didn’t move her hand. 

At least not right away. She let herself examine the face she was holding, trying to figure something out, just to be sure. After a few seconds that certainly could’ve been mistaken for minutes, she let her hand drop, tugging lightly at Beau’s lower lip. If Jester didn’t already know the answer to her question, the way Beau’s head jutted forward as if to hang onto Jester’s touch a millisecond longer certainly confirmed what she already thought. 

As quickly as Jester had taken her fingers off of Beau, she was putting them back on, winding them around the back of Beau’s neck and up into her hair to pull Beau all the way to her. 

Beau tasted like the cherry chapstick she always borrowed from Jester mixed with a day’s worth of rehearsal sweat. It was kind of gross, but Jester loved it anyways. It was _Beau_. 

“Shit, Jes,” Beau breathed once Jester finally let her go. “I don’t think _that_ was in the choreography.”

“Yeah, well, neither was dropping me on the floor, but you know. Artistic license.”

Beau couldn’t help but chuckle, letting her head drop to Jester’s chest as she laughed. 

“Beau?” Jester asked, once she had picked her head back up.

“Yeah?”

“You got me, right?”

Beau shifted her weight around, freeing up one of her hands so she could grab Jester’s. “Jes, I - of course. You know that. Of course I do.”

Beau meant it, absolutely, a hundred times over. Jester was her best friend, before anything else. Beau would do literally anything to make her happy, her own cool image be damned. If Jester wanted it, Beau’d provide. And, well. If the thing that Jester wanted involved getting Beau’s lips back on hers right now, Beau had absolutely no complaints.

“Get down here, then,” Jester all but cooed, squeezing Beau’s hand and pressing at the back of her neck with the fingers still wound up in her hair. 

Beau gladly obliged, leaning down to press a kiss to Jester’s lips once, twice, a lot of times.

Beau had no idea how quickly time was passing, because practically everything besides Jester had stopped existing anymore. They might miss their costume fitting. Nothing in the world could make her care about that right now.

“Beau?” Jester whispered against Beau’s mouth between kisses.

“Yeah?”

“You like me, right?”

Beau opened her eyes for a moment. Jester was already staring at her, concern filling her face and breaking Beau's heart. Beau squeezed Jester's hand, never breaking her gaze. “Of course I like you.”

“Good.” Jester melted into a wide smile, eyes gleaming, the most beautiful Beau may have ever seen her. “I like you too.”

“Get up here, then,” Beau said, chuckle quickly cut off by Jester rushing to sit up and kiss her again. 

  
Fuck, man, Beau thought, Jester’s hands running up and down her back, legs wrapping comfortably about her waist as she leaned back to a more comfortable sitting position, tongue finding its way not at all sneakily into her mouth. That was a _damn_ good run.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, please leave a kudos or comment if you're so inclined!! 
> 
> You can hit me up at [cadykeus-clay](https://cadykeus-clay.tumblr.com) on tumblr if you wanna talk ballet au, or cr in general!
> 
> Referenced Videos:  
> [Royal Ballet Version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy6dlGpC3Ns): Main ref for most of the choreography, and my personal fave ballerina (marinela nunez!) dancing it  
> [Balanchine Version](https://youtu.be/lyDgSjL-Zos): Probably the version you know if you watched the Nutcracker on TV in the US as a kid. This one has the lift at the end that Beau and Jester can’t do (timestamp 5:19).
> 
> Glossary (in order they are used):  
> Sus-sous: A balance on tiptoe where both legs are straight and one is crossed slightly in front of the other. One of the simplest balances in ballet.
> 
> Passe: a balance where one leg is bent so the knee is out to the side and the toe is touching the side of the other leg.
> 
> Arabesque: a balance where one leg is straight and held in the air behind the dancer.
> 
> Pas: short for pas de deux, means "dance for two". this is typically a romantic duet done with one man and one woman, with lots of intricate lifts and partner work.
> 
> B plus: a common preporatory position. The dancer stands on one leg with the other slightly bent and crossed behind, ready to moved when the dance begins.
> 
> Fifth position: One of the basic feet positions in ballet, where one leg is crossed in front of the other so that one foot's toe is touching the other foot's heel.
> 
> Attitude: A balance on one leg where the leg being lifted is slightly bent. Usually to the front or back, rarely done to the side in ballet (but more common in modern/contemporary dance).
> 
> Promenade: when one dancer holds a balance and another dancer pushes them, usually by the arms or hips, in a full 360 circle.
> 
> Pirouette: one kind of turn with the leg in passe (toe to the knee pose)
> 
> Bourree: a travelling step where the dancer crosses one leg behind the other and takes a ton of very small and quick steps. it can move front, side, or back, and often makes the dancer look like she's floating, bc the steps are so small the torso doesn't go up or down.
> 
> En pointe: all the way up on the tips of the toes, supported by pointe shoes, instead of just risen to the balls of the feet.
> 
> Penchee: an arabesque (leg to the back) but taking the leg as high as possible, and letting the chest dip down low to accomodate.
> 
> Cambre: Bending the torso in a certain direction while leaving the lower body steady.
> 
> Soutenue: A turn in sus-sous (legs straight and crossed). Often a filler step used to change direction or which leg is in front.
> 
> Developpe: Picking one leg off the floor, drawing the toe up the other leg, and then extending it straight in a particular direction (front, side, or back).
> 
> Plie: A bend of the knee. 
> 
> Saute: A small jump. Can be done  
> pas de chat: A jump where one leg, then the other, are picked up and bent beneath the dancer in quick succession. Means step of the cat (that's not important I just think its cool)
> 
> Shoulder sit: a common lift where one dancer jumps in the air and is caught by another dancer, who places them so they are sitting on one shoulder. They usually walk around the stage like that for a bit to show off.
> 
> Assemble: A jump where a dancer brushes one leg out (to the front, side, or back) as they jump, and then they squeeze their legs back together in the air before they land.
> 
> Fish lift: another common lift where the person getting lifted is held around the legs and the waist, and dipped downwards so their body makes a curve, kind of like a fish I guess?? Sometimes, the person being lifted will wrap one of their legs around the person lifting them's torso so that person can take their hands off. This is a much flashier and harder version.


End file.
